Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 270-271; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Francis R. Brown is one of those worthy citizens who have won a
comfortable fortune by the exercise of unflagging industry, wise
economy and good judgment in the conduct of the business to which they
have devoted themselves. His home in Lewistown Township is one of
the most attractive of the farm residences within its bounds, and
everywhere upon the estate one sees evidences of the qualities which
have won for its owner his worldly success and good standing in the
community.
Mr. Brown is of French stock, his grandfather, John Brown,
having been a native of France, where he grew to manhood.
Accompanied by two brothers he came to America, making his first
location in Maryland, where he resided a number of years. At the
time of the early settlement of Kentucky, he bought a tract consisting
of one hundred and sixty acres of timber land between Flemingsburg and
Maysville and made that his home during the remainder of his
life. There was a cabin on the place and he erected a large hewed
log house where he kept an inn. He was a slave-owner in Maryland
and having taken his chattels with him to Kentucky, they cleared the
land. He himself practiced his profession of a physician.
His wife, a native of Wales, bore the maiden name of Lurania
Rollins. She also died on the homestead, her remains being
deposited beside those of her husband in Fitch’s Churchyard, two and a
half miles north of Flemingsburg.
Among the eight children reared by the couple above mentioned
was a son, Joshua, whose birth occurred ten miles below Baltimore,
Md. He received a fine education in his native State but did not
adopt professional life. He was a young man when his parents
removed to Kentucky, where, in 1819, he was married to Rhoda
Hughes. This lady was born in Virginia, being the daughter of
John and Fannie Hughes, who were numbered among the earliest settlers
of Fleming County, Ky., their location being four and a half miles from
Flemingsburg. Mr. Hughes bought a tract of timber land which he
cleared and improved as fast as possible, making it his home until
death. For many years after his arrival the Indians were much
more numerous than the white, and the settlers were obliges on numerous
occasions to repair to the stockades to avoid death at the hands of the
savages. Wild game of all kinds was, of course, abundant.
The father of our subject built a cabin on his father’s
homestead, where he resided four years after his marriage, then bought
a quarter section of timber land on the Horseshoe Bend in Mason
County. He cleared quite a tract of land and was dong well
financially when called upon to pay a security debt which ruined him,
causing the loss of his farm. Going to Mt. Carmel he built a
double hewed log house and shop, and engaging in the shoemaker’s trade
continued there four years. In Fleming County he met with the
loss of his devoted companion who died when her son, our subject, was
eighteen months old. The bereaved husband and father after a time
removed to Clermont County, Ohio, where he was married the second time,
to Miss Catherine Noesinger, and after some years to Fulton County,
Ill., thence to Jackson County, Iowa, where he entered into rest.
The gentleman of whom we write was born in Fleming County, Ky.,
July 7, 1821, and was five years old when his father removed to
Ohio. In that State he remained until the fall of 1844, when he
took up his residence in this State, coming thither by means of the
Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and disembarking at Liverpool
Landing on the 12th of October, with $2.37-1/2 cents in his
pocket. He had visited this section the preceding spring and
traded his horse, saddle, bridle and gun for a tract of Government land
upon which a cabin stood. Here he took up his residence with his
sister, who made him a comfortable home until he took a wife. It
was necessary for him to find employment and he was soon at work,
splitting rails at twenty-five cents per hundred. At this he
employed the hours of daylight, clearing his land at night; when there
was a moon he could work by the light afforded by a burning brush heap.
In 1846 Mr. Brown sold his claim for $100 and rented a farm in
Putnam Township. At that time there was no railroad communication
in this vicinity and the river towns were the markets to which all
produce was hauled, frequently over very hard roads. Wheat sold
as low as twenty-five cents per bushel and other produce at
proportionate rates, and yet, by dint of prudence and unflagging
industry, men prospered. Mr. Brown after operating as a renter
twelve years, purchased one hundred and thirty-three acres of land
included in his present farm which now consist of one hundred and
seventy-three acres.
The capable and devoted companion to whose wisdom in the
management of household affairs and good counsel, Mr. Brown owed much
during his struggling years, was Nancy Laws, a native of Culpeper
(Culpepper) County, Va., and daughter of Samuel and Polly (Rector)
Laws. Their marriage rites were celebrated in the spring of 1845,
and for a period of nearly half a century they shared each other’s joys
and sorrows. Mr. Brown was called hence June 17, 1890, at the age
of sixty-eight years, seven months and seventeen days. She was
the mother of five children, four of whom are now living, namely:
Martin, who lives in Kansas; Rhoda A., wife of Lorenzo D. Boyer; George
W., whose home is in Lewistown Township; Martha E., wife of Eugene
Churchill, who resides in Buckheart Township.
